This invention utilizes the power electronics of a switched reluctance motor controller and the phase windings of a switched reluctance motor to make up a single stage boost converter capable of charging a battery with power factor correction (PFC) in the AC line.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A charging circuit comprising: a plurality of semiconductor H-bridges, each of said H-bridges having a plurality of switching nodes; a rotating electromagnetic machine having a plurality of phase windings; an AC current input capable of receiving AC current from an AC power source having one or more power phases; wherein each of said electromagnetic machine phase windings is connected across each of said plurality of switching nodes within one of said H-bridges; wherein each of said power phases from said AC current input is connected to one of said switching nodes.
2. The charging circuit of claim 1 , wherein said plurality of semiconductor H-bridges are components of a motor controller.
3. The charging circuit of claim 1 , wherein said rotating electromagnetic machine is a switched reluctance (SR) motor.
4. The charging circuit of claim 1 , wherein each of said plurality of semiconductor H-bridges is an asymmetrical transistor/diode type H-bridge.
5. The charging circuit of claim 1 , wherein said AC current input comprises an AC current input capable of receiving three phase AC current.
6. The charging circuit of claim 5 , wherein each of said plurality of phase windings is capable of functioning as a power factor correction inductor.
7. The charging circuit of claim 1 , wherein said AC current input comprises an AC current input capable of receiving a single phase AC current.
8. The charging circuit of claim 7 , wherein at least one of said plurality of phase windings is capable of functioning as a power factor correction inductor.
9. A method for generating a charging circuit comprising the steps of; accepting an AC power input; and operating a switched reluctance (SR) motor and a plurality of motor controller H-bridges and thereby generating a power factor corrected charging current from said AC power input.
10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising the step of passing said AC power input through a plurality of phase windings within said switched reluctance motor.
11. The method of claim 9 , wherein said AC power input is a single phase AC power input.
12. The method of claim 9 , wherein said AC power input is a balanced three phase power input.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
January 12, 2011
June 18, 2013
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